Amateur hackers are using Photoshop to undo redactions in files released by the Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The latest 11,034-document dump under the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Monday came heavily stocked with blacked-out names and phrases, much to the chagrin of social media sleuths. But within hours, X users had already uncovered the not-so-bulletproof method the DOJ used to redact the information.
“So apparently there are many Epstein files on the DOJ website where you can highlight the redacted text, copy it, and paste it onto another document to read the redactions,” X user Liam Nissan shared in a post viewed 6.8 million times as of publication.
Independent political commentator Ed Krassenstein even posted a how-to video on X, demonstrating the process—and ridiculing Trump’s DOJ at the same time.
“Trump DOJ screwed up some of the redactions so bad that you can recover them,” he said in the video. “And I did so simply by copying and pasting the text.”
The redactions fueled speculation that the president, whom Epstein has called his closest friend, is covering up his own name or shielding others who appear in the documents.
“The Epstein files on the DOJ website allow you to highlight the redacted text, copy it, and paste it into another document, which reveals what was hidden,” one X user wrote.”You can also press Ctrl+F and search for ‘Trump ’ (with a space) to see his name appear more than 600 times.”
It’s not clear how many documents can be unmasked by the editing trick. However, one newly naked document shed light on a civil case against Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn, two executors of Epstein’s estate. According to The Guardian, a redacted portion reads: “Between September 2015 and June 2019, Indyke signed (FAC) for over $400,000 made payable to young female models and actresses, including a former Russian model who received over $380,000 through monthly payments of $8,333 made over a period of more than three and a half years until the middle of 2019.”
Indyke has never faced criminal charges and was hired by the Parlatore Law Group in 2022—prior to the DOJ settling the Epstein case—which represents Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Another redacted passage alleges that the two men tried to conceal their “criminal sex trafficking and abuse” through large sums of hush money to victims and witnesses.
“Epstein also instructed one or more Epstein Enterprise participant-witnesses to destroy evidence relevant to ongoing court proceedings involving Defendants’ criminal sex trafficking and abuse conduct,” the document reads.
The Photoshop loophole was discovered a month after the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed. Of the material made public—in which Trump’s name appears multiple times—hundreds of pages were heavily redacted, which legal experts say “falls far short” of what is legally required under the law.
In response, the DOJ has issued a defensive statement alleging that some of the documents “contain untrue and sensationalist” allegations against the president.
“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the DOJ said.
The department has said many of the redactions were made to protect victims’ privacy or to shield minors. Yet several Epstein survivors—whose identities had previously been protected—have since discovered their names were left unredacted in the released documents.
Trump has insisted that he and Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan holding cell in 2019, were never close friends, repeating several times that he distanced himself from the late financier after he was put on the sex offender list in 2008, shortly after he pleaded guilty to a charge of solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
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